indiaculture.nic.in Tagore National Fellowship For Cultural Research : Ministry of Culture

Organization : Ministry of Culture
Scholarship Name : Tagore National Fellowship For Cultural Research
Applicable States : All India

Website : https://www.indiaculture.gov.in/

Tagore National Fellowship For Cultural Research:
The Scheme has been introduced in order to invigorate and revitalise the various institutions under the Ministry of Culture (MoC) and other identified cultural institutions in the country, by encouraging scholars/ academicians to affiliate themselves with these institutions to work on projects of mutual interest.

Update : Ministry of Culture Tagore National Fellowship For Cultural Research 2018-19 : www.scholarships.net.in/35177.html

With a view to infuse fresh knowledge capital into the institutions, the scheme expects these scholars/academicians to select specific resources of the institutions to take up projects and research work that are related to the main objectives of these institutions and to enrich them with a new creative edge and academic excellence. The Scheme will be open to both Indian nationals and foreign citizens. The proportion of foreigners will not normally exceed one–third of the total Fellowships awarded in a year.

Participating Institutions:
The Scheme shall cover the institutions under the Ministry of Culture (MoC), as listed below, and may cover other such institutions in future. The scheme will also cover such Non-MoC cultural institutions as have, in the opinion of the National Selection Committee (NSC), cultural resources like manuscripts, artefacts, antiquities, books, publications, records, etc. and seek to take advantage of the scheme, to engage distinguished scholars to work on its resources and come out with publications that enrich our understanding of the subject or the institution. Apart from considering the applications received from willing institutions for their inclusion in the Scheme, NSC can, on its own motion, identify such institutions that should be invited to benefit from the Scheme. On receipt of their consent, the concerned institutions will be covered by the Scheme.

Scope of the Scheme:
The scope of the Scheme is to enable the identified cultural institutions engage scholars of outstanding merit, to work on research projects that unravel their unexplored resources. The institutions as well as scholars may identify areas to be explored, but the subject of research need not be confined/ limited to one institution. For purposes of convenience, monitoring, accounting and responsibility, one of the institutions listed in para 3 would be the ‘Nodal Institution’ for each project, and the Fellow will be attached/ anchored to that institution.

Areas of Research and Eligible Projects:
** The Fellow selected will normally work on a project that benefits the Nodal Institution in terms of unraveling its resources. The subject of research should be one that can be usefully pursued with the resources and facilities of the Nodal Institution awarding the Fellowship, though he/she will be free to draw on the resources and facilities of other institutions, as well.
** If the subject of research extends to more than one institution or the Fellow otherwise needs to draw upon the resources and facilities of other institution(s), the Nodal Institution awarding the Fellowship would recommend the Fellow to such other institution(s). In rare cases, where two institutions appear to be of almost equal importance to the Fellow, the second institution may be deemed to be the ‘Co- institution’ and the two may sign a Tripartite MoU regarding Intellectual Property, Publication, Credit sharing, facilities, etc. But accounting shall be with the Nodal Institution.
** Since the Scheme is focused on unravelling the cultural resources of the Nodal Institution, the project must be driven in that direction, that is, to use substantially the resources of the Nodal Institution. The inputs required for the project should have a very strong linkage with the resources available with the Nodal Institution and (in rare cases) the Co-institution.
** At the end of it, the project outcome must benefit the Nodal Institution, Co- institution, if any, and the subject under consideration; and add to the existing knowledge of the institution/ subject.

Eligibility of Scholars to be appointed as Tagore National Fellows:
** Scholars who have sound academic or professional credentials and have made significant contribution to knowledge in their respective fields, as reflected in publications in reputed and referred journals and books authored by them, or persons with significant creative work in any field of art or culture, will be eligible to be considered for the award of the Fellowship.
** Scholars to be engaged must have both the credentials as laid down in the preceding paragraph (4.2.1), as well as a strong reputation in the field covered by the Nodal Institution. As the honour and the honorarium are both of a very high order, the Institution Level Search-cum-Screening Committee of the sponsoring institution and the National Selection Committee (defined in para 11 later) may keep these in mind while recommending/ selecting the Tagore National Fellows.

Those selected as Tagore National Fellows have, therefore, to:
** be of highest standing in terms of research and years of experience;
** have a very impressive list of publications, that have found acceptability in the scholarly world; and
** have past experience in dealing with the projects directly connected to the Nodal Institution and/or allied institutions.

In short, a person selected for the Tagore National Fellowship should be one who has already become a ‘legend’ in his area of work or is regarded very highly. It is appropriate that those who do not come near this description may not apply or be considered for the highest honour and honorarium accorded to a scholar in India under this Fellowship.

Number of the Tagore National Fellowships and Funding Thereof:
** To start with, 15 Fellowships per annum are paid by the Ministry of Culture, to institutions that seek it. The total number may be much higher as almost all the MoC institutions have sufficient funds to expend for their Fellows. An institution can award a maximum of two Fellowships in a year, but the National Selection Committee (NSC) will have the discretion to relax this condition, especially for broad-band institutions like the ASI and the IGNCA, if there are deserving proposals.
** If for any year, starting from the year 2009-10, Fellowships awarded from MoC funds are less than 15, the balance may be carried forward to the immediate next year, subject to availability of funds for the purpose in that year. Similarly, applications and projects submitted in a particular financial year could well be carried over and considered/ recommended next year, if otherwise found worthy of consideration.
** It is clarified that the attached and subordinate offices under the Ministry of Culture will bear all the expenditure on the Tagore National Fellows from within the overall Plan budget allocated to them, while the autonomous organizations (fully funded by the Ministry of Culture) may bear it from within the general pool of funds available with them by way of Annual Plan grants or by internal generation. If additional funds be required by any of them for supporting the Fellows thus engaged, the Ministry of Culture will allot the required additional amount as part of their grant-in-aid allocation in the case of autonomus organizations and make additional budget provision if the institution is an attached/subordinate formation of the Ministry. The institutions will have the full freedom and flexibility to administer the Scheme (for which the Ministry will provide the grant-in-aid/ budgetary provision, as explained above), within the broad parameters laid down herein under and as may be advised by the NSC.
** Non-MoC institutions covered by the Scheme will be provided funds directly from the budget head of this scheme, which will be utilized by them for meeting their expenditure on the Tagore National Fellow(s) selected to work for them, and accounted for separately.

A Fellow shall be required to:-
** Deliver one public lecture per annum on the subject of his research under the Fellowship.
** At the conclusion of his term, the Fellow will have to submit a Report on the work carried out under the Fellowship, indicating the expected and the achieved output. He/she will also have to make a presentation on the outcome of his/her research to the NSC.
** The Nodal Institution is expected to publish the research work of each Fellow at the completion of the project. The rights of the research work resulting from the award of the Fellowship will be owned by the Nodal Institution, unless the NSC permits any other arrangement, for justifiable reasons to be recorded. Subject to the issues of copyright, the academic output resulting from the work of the Fellow in association with the national cultural institution would be made public also through the internet/web publishing.
** If the Nodal Institution does not publish or enter into a co-publishing arrangement and provide support for the actual printing of the book, within one year after completion of the Fellowship, it will be open to the Fellow to get the same published through a private publisher duly acknowledging the contribution of the Ministry of Culture and the rights of the Nodal Institution.
** Co-publishing of the project will also be encouraged and the Fellow may also arrange a private publisher who agrees to co-publish the work with the Nodal Institution and accepts it for such publication within one year of the completion of the project. Collaborations with established names in publication will be welcome.
** The language of the project will be allowed to be determined by the nature of the project and/or the language skills of the Fellow. Wherever a project is done in a language other than English, the Nodal Institution will also make provision for translation and publication of the translated work.

Applying Again:
Once awarded a Tagore National Fellowship, a candidate cannot apply again for a Fellowship/ Scholarship under this scheme, either at the same or any other institution covered under the Scheme, but this restriction will not apply to Tagore Research Scholars.

Contact Details:
(i)Section Officer (S & F) Section at Ph. No. 011-24642157 or through e-mail @ scholar-culture@nic.in in the Ministry.

(ii)Director, Nehru Memorial Museum & Library, Teen Murti Bhawan, New Delhi-110001. @ Ph. No. 011-23016350 or through e-mail @ ddnehrumemorial@gmail.com